[Berlin Diary] Friday evening

[karohemd]

We headed out to K17 a bit before 11 (nightlife in Berlin doesn't really start before midnight, anyway). It's not that far from lsur's place (easy walking distance afterwards, even for me) and we got there when it was still quite empty.
It was Night of the Living Dead this time, run by a Hamburg based promoter. Music on three floors: downstairs was trad, 80s, death/goth rock/metal etc., middle floor was the generic EBM/dance floor and upstairs was Stahlklang, with Harsh EBM, Noise and stuff and the main reason I picked this particular weekend.
Stahlklang wasn't quite what I had expected but in a good way. I had expected a playlist like this one but what I got was a lot harsher and more obscure than that. Lots of Structured rather than Power Noise and some ambient stuff to start with. I was in heaven and people like rivetmike, wintrmute and others would have been, too. Proper stomping/invisible ninja killing on the dancefloor, too. ;o)

I went to the middle floor to relax a bit. What was supposed to be the generic EBM floor turned out to play Fixmer/McCarthy, Feindflug, [:sitd:] and Rotersand (EAD).
There, the surprise of the evening happened. I was standing on the side opposite the bar, chatting to lsur when a pretty blonde woman came bouncing up to me, held out her hand and went, "Hi, I'm Stella!"
Confused, (pretty women usually don't introduce themselves to me like that), I went blank "Who? What? Sorry?" - "I'm stellalive!" - "D'oh!"
Small world syndrome again but I still don't know how she recognised me in the dim light. OK, I looked pretty much like in my recent user pics but still. Remarkable. I'm pretty bad when it comes to faces, anyway, especially when I actually have never met (or seen a photo of) the person in question. Very cool!
Danced a bit and then went downstairs which was quite good to sit and chat but the music wasn't really my thing so I went all the way upstairs again. Unfortunately, I was still a bit under the weather from my recent bout of flu so hadn't much energy for dancing but it was fantastic just listening, too.
Off to the middle floor again after an hour or so. There was a nice crowd there by that time and the dancefloor was well filled.
Again, the German goths confused me with their almost uniform dancing style (at least they weren't line dancing like at the Top Act!) in a sort of leaning back goth two-step, no matter what music was played (trad, synthpop or harsh electro). I think I confused quite a few people with my stomping and using my hands/arms a lot. ;o)
The other thing you notice is the more generic style of dress. In the UK, you can tell apart Tradgoths, Deathrockers, Cybers, Rivets and so forth, in Germany, there isn't much of a genre distinction. Even in Berlin, there were no Cybers and only a few with synthdread or plastic hair exensions but nothing as extreme as you see over here. The only exception was one of the barmaids.
We only held out until 3 or so as I was feeling really rather shattered and had big plans for Saturday, anyway. Still, it was fantastic, good value, too (€5 at the door and humane drink prices).

Walked back home (only about 20 mins) and crashed - at least after I managed to disable the clock (one of those with flipping analog display which meant there was quite an audible *clack* every minute).

Comments

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

hehehe at the uniform dance styles - you show 'em!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

At least they weren't all facing the same direction this time...

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Hehe. That image will remain with me forever - so bizarre!

[sogoth.livejournal.com]

Mmmm sounds like a good club night :)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

It was like Die Fabrik on two floors with a lot more people and better sound/light systems. :o)

[rivetmike.livejournal.com]

Just the sample playlist you linked would be nice enough for me :).

Remind me, is K17 the club right by an S Bahn station almost under some bridges? I'm pretty sure it was the club that me and Anna went to but they didn't have Stahlklang on at the time we went. Still very cool varied playlists though.

I met [Bad username or site: stellalive£ @ livejournal.com] at Infest (small world syndrome again?) and she's a cool girl :)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I thought. :o)

Sounds familiar. It's set back in a courtyard but right next to a train line and not far from the Frankfurter Allee S-Bahn station. There's a bar/food counter outside. It has three levels that look pretty similar (a long corridor with toilets etc. first and then the main room).

Stahlklang/Night of the Living Dead is on every two months. I happened across a playlist at one point and picked that very weekend to visit.

*grins*
It's a DJ thing, I guess. We started chatting online when I was pimping Die Fabrik to various communities.

[rivetmike.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the same venue. I remember being the very first couple in the club when we went (and we thought we were getting there fashionable late too).

Really want to check out Tresor (legendary techno club) next time I'm in Berlin as just seems rude not to.

We used to go to Amsterdam once a year and always tried to go when the monthly Medusa party was on but think it's stopped now :(